[kon-truh-beys] 
Music.| 1. | (in any family of instruments) the member below the bass. |
| 2. | (in the violin family) the double bass. |
| 3. | of, pertaining to, or characteristic of such instruments: a contrabass trombone. |
[kon-truh-bey-sist, -bas-ist] , noun [beys] | the largest instrument of the violin family, having three or, usually, four strings, rested vertically on the floor when played. |
| con·tra·bass (kŏn'trə-bās') n. See double bass. adj. Pitched an octave below the normal bass range. [Obsolete Italian contrabasso : Italian contra-, against (from Latin contrā-; see contra-) + Italian basso, bass (from Medieval Latin bassus, low).] con'tra·bass'ist n. |
| double bass (bās) n. The largest bowed stringed instrument in the modern orchestra, also used frequently in jazz ensembles, especially played pizzicato. The double bass, usually considered a member of the violin family, is tuned in fourths and has the sloping shoulders and flat back characteristic of the viols. It has a deep range, going as low as three octaves below middle C. Also called bass fiddle, bass viol, bull fiddle, contrabass, string bass. [double, tuned an octave lower than (from the fact that a string or pipe that is twice the length of another gies a pitch an octave lower) + bass2.] |